Barça's ¤8 million Valdés offer

It seems that if Víctor Valdés's representatives had allowed the Barcelona directors the chance to present their offer, the goalkeeper's irrevocable decision to end his association with the club in June 2014 - when his contract runs out – might indeed have been revoked.

Representatives at the Catalan club were convinced that there would be no problem if the issue was a financial one. Josep Maria Bartomeu, Andoni Zubizarreta and Raúl Sanllehí were willing to offer the keeper the chance to earn one of the highest salaries at the club – on par with the likes of Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and David Villa. This would have been a reward for the player’s achievements with Barça over the past decade.

Tito Vilanova previously stated that the Catalan shot-stopper's performances had been decisive and that he would be needed for a long time to come, as finding a replacement would prove too difficult. Paying Valdés around ¤8 million per season was one of the ways of rewarding him, and the offer, which had been well-studied by Barça, was deemed to be financially acceptable for the club. Alas, it was not to be, and now the future of the Barça number one is up in the air.

Sources close to Valdés told MARCA that the goalkeeper intends to allow Barcelona time to find a suitable replacement and would also like the club to benefit from his departure in June with a transfer.